Movies – Page 30 – The Movie Gourmet

Movies to See Right Now

December 30, 2016 by movie gourmet

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in LA LA LAND

My movie recommendations for this Holiday weekend begin with these two crowd pleasers:

La La Land: the extraordinarily vivid romantic musical staring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
Lion: an emotionally affecting family drama.

Other top recommendations:

Manchester by the Sea: MUST SEE. Don’t miss Casey Affleck’s career-topping performance in the emotionally authentic drama .
Elle: MUST SEE (but increasingly hard to find in theaters). A perverse wowzer with the year’s top performance by Isabelle Huppert. Manchester by the Sea is #2 and Elle is #4 on my Best Movies of 2016.
Loving: The love story that spawned a historic Supreme Court decision.
Mascots: the latest mockumentary from Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and it’s very funny. Mascots is streaming on Netflix Instant.
The Eagle Huntress: This documentary is a Feel Good movie for the whole family, blending the genres of girl power, sports competition and cultural tourism.

Also in theaters or on video:

Despite a delicious performance by one of my faves, Michael Shannon, I’m not recommending Nocturnal Animals.
Arrival with Amy Adams, is real thinking person’s sci-fi. Every viewer will be transfixed by the first 80% of Arrival. How you feel about the finale depends on whether you buy into the disconnected-from-linear-time aspect or you just get confused, like I did.
The remarkably sensitive and realistic indie drama Moonlight is at once a coming of age tale, an exploration of addicted parenting and a story of gay awakening. It’s almost universally praised, but I thought that the last act petered out.
Skip the dreary and somnolent Jackie – Natalie Portman’s exceptional impersonation isn’t enough.
If you’re interested in the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune or cinema in general (and can still find the movie in a theater), I recommend the documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai.

My DVD/Stream of the Week picks are, for the rest of 2016, this year’s best films that are already available on video: Hell or High Water, Eye in the Sky, Chevalier, Weiner, Take Me to the River and Green Room.

For New Year’s Week, Turner Classic Movies is bringing us some great choices:

December 31st – Lawrence of Arabia: it’s time to revisit a spectacle. For decades, many of us watched this epic squeezed into tinny-sounding TVs. In 1989, I was fortunate enough to see the director’s cut in an old movie palace. Now technology has caught up, and modern large screen HD televisions can do justice to this wide screen classic. Similarly, modern home sound systems can work with the great Maurice Jarre soundtrack. Nobody has ever created better epics than director David Lean (Bridge Over the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago). Peter O’Toole stars at the moment of his greatest physical beauty. The rest of the cast is unsurpassed: Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, thousands of extras and entire herds of camels. The vast and severe Arabian desert is a character unto itself. Settle in and watch the whole thing – and remember what “epic” really means.
December 31st – Some Like It Hot: This Billy Wilder masterpiece is my pick for the best comedy of all time. Seriously – the best comedy ever. And it still works today. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play most of the movie in drag (and Tony is kind of cute). Curtis must continue the ruse although he’s next to Marilyn Monroe at her most delectable. Curtis then dons a yachting cap and does a dead-on Cary Grant impression as the heir to an industrial fortune. Joe E. Brown gets the last word with one of cinema’s best closing lines.
January 3rd – Cool Hand Luke, with Paul Newman as an iconic 1960s anti-hero, a charismatic supporting performance by George Kennedy, the unforgettable boiled egg-eating contest and the great movie line “What we have here is a failure to communicate”.

And on New Years Day, all you non-football fans can tune into TCM to binge-watch Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, Strangers on a Train, The Birds, Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Shadow of a Doubt, Torn Curtain, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Family Plot, Marnie and The Trouble with Harry.

How to Run a Chain Gang and Influence People in COOL HAND LUKE

2016 at the Movies: I hadn’t seen this before

December 28, 2016 by movie gourmet

Here are some things that I hadn’t seen before in the movies:

Lead characters in Toni Erdmann and Elle that were completely sui generis.
A movie exposé, Under the Sun, built out of outtakes shot under the noses of the North Korean government handlers.
Tower, a documentary about a mass shooting that barely mentioned the shooter – and with a startlingly effective look.
The Greasy Strangler, a movie actually constructed as a cult movie for the midnight shows
The Korean period con artist movie The Handmaiden delivered some unforeseeable plot twists – and was gorgeous and erotic, too.

2016 at the movies: Women filmmakers

December 26, 2016 by movie gourmet

Athina Rachel Tsangari, director of CHEVALIER . Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society

In 2016, I’ve featured a number of excellent films from women directors. Of course, the film industry is nowhere near gender parity, but there are increasing choices if you want to view good movies made by women. Toni Erdmann, Chevalier and Weiner made my list of the Best Movies of 2016.

In just her third feature, Maren Ade has created a MUST SEE in Toni Erdmann. You might not expect an almost three-hour German comedy to break through, but I’ve seen it, and I think that it’s a lock to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Picture. Ade gives us a woman’s perspective of a father-daughter relationship, creating a totally original and unforgettable father who takes prankstering into performance art. This is a movie with the funniest nude brunch you’ll ever witness that still will leave you choked up at the end. Toni Erdmann opens January 20 in the Bay Area.
Chevalier: This Greek comedy from director Athina Rachel Tsangari is one of the funniest movies of the year and was the MUST SEE at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Obviously a keen observer of male behavior, Tsangari delivers a sly and pointed exploration of male competitiveness, with the moments of drollness and absurdity that we expect in the best of contemporary Greek cinema. VERY brief theatrical release in June. Chevalier is now available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Weiner: The year’s best documentary, this is a marvelously entertaining inside chronicle of a campaign, a character study of Anthony Weiner himself and an almost voyeuristic peek into Weiner’s marriage to another political star, Huma Abedin. Weiner is available on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and DirecTV.

Film festivals stepped up in a major way to feature women filmmakers. This year, Cinequest presented the world or US premieres of sixty features and sixty-nine shorts. And of these 129 debut films, 64 were directed by women! This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) included movies from 50 women directors.

This year, I found the first features by the writer-directors of A Country Called Home (Anna Axster) and Five Nights in Maine (Maris Curran) to be especially promising. Susanna White is a veteran director, but Our Kind of Traitor was her first big budget action thriller, and she pulled it off successfully.

Other 2016 films by women that I’ve written about include NUTS!, Maggie’s Plan, The Meddler, Heaven’s Floor, The Brainwashing of My Dad, Dan and Margot, The Promised Band and Girl Asleep. You can find most of them on video.

Ewen McGregor and Stellan Skarsgaard in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR — Ewen McGregor and Stellan Skarsgaard in Susanna White’s OUR KIND OF TRAITOR

Movies to See Right Now

December 23, 2016 by movie gourmet

My movie recommendations for this Holiday weekend begin with these two crowd pleasers:

La La Land: the extraordinarily vivid romantic musical staring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
Lion: an emotionally affecting family drama.

Other top recommendations:

Manchester by the Sea: MUST SEE. Don’t miss Casey Affleck’s career-topping performance in the emotionally authentic drama .
Elle: MUST SEE (but increasingly hard to find in theaters). A perverse wowzer with the year’s top performance by Isabelle Huppert. Manchester by the Sea is #2 and Elle is #4 on my Best Movies of 2016.
Loving: The love story that spawned a historic Supreme Court decision.
Mascots: the latest mockumentary from Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and it’s very funny. Mascots is streaming on Netflix Instant.
The Eagle Huntress: This documentary is a Feel Good movie for the whole family, blending the genres of girl power, sports competition and cultural tourism.

Also in theaters or on video:

Despite a delicious performance by one of my faves, Michael Shannon, I’m not recommending Nocturnal Animals.
Arrival with Amy Adams, is real thinking person’s sci-fi. Every viewer will be transfixed by the first 80% of Arrival. How you feel about the finale depends on whether you buy into the disconnected-from-linear-time aspect or you just get confused, like I did.
The remarkably sensitive and realistic indie drama Moonlight is at once a coming of age tale, an exploration of addicted parenting and a story of gay awakening. It’s almost universally praised, but I thought that the last act petered out.
Skip the dreary and somnolent Jackie – Natalie Portman’s exceptional impersonation isn’t enough.
If you’re interested in the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune or cinema in general (and can still find the movie in a theater), I recommend the documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai.

On Christmas Day, Turner Classic Movies presents the brilliantly funny Hail the Conquering Hero, one of writer-director Preston Sturges’ less well-known great comedies. Eddie Bracken plays a would-be soldier discharged for hay fever – but his hometown mistakenly thinks that he is sent home a war hero. Hilarity ensues. All the funnier when you realize that this film was made in 1944 amid our nation’s most culturally patriotic period.

William Demarest and fellow Marines comfort Eddie Bracken in HAIL! THE CONQUERING HERO

LA LA LAND: romantic, vivid and irresistible

December 23, 2016December 23, 2016 by movie gourmet

There’s a profound love story at the heart of La La Land, and it’s told with extravagant musical, visual and acting artistry. In dazzling performances, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as struggling artists (actress and jazz pianist) in contemporary Los Angeles who meet and fall in love. Neither the actress or the musician can buy a break in their careers, and the tension between sticking to their passions and compromising for popular success will determine the future of their relationship. They can’t resist each other, and we, the audience, can resist neither them or La la Land.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are Movie Stars in the best sense of the phrase. Each has a special charisma before a camera; we are driven to watch them and to sympathize with them. There’s a scene when Stone’s character is dining with another man, hears background music that reminds her of Gosling’s and runs to join him at the Rialto Theatre; it’s as authentically romantic as any scene in any movie. When Gosling’s character lashes out and says something hurtful, the expression in Stone’s eyes is absolutely heartbreaking.

La la Land employs music and dance to tell its story in as immersive an experience as in the great 1964 French drama The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The original music by Justin Hurwitz (Whiplash) is excellent. John Legend co-stars as the leader of an emerging band. The dancing in La La Land is the real thing – we see the full bodies dancing like we did with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly – no phony close-ups and quick cuts.

They are no Fred and Ginger, but Gosling and Stone dance well enough; Gosling started out as a Mouseketeer, after all. Gosling’s voice is not strong, but it’s pleasing (think Chet Baker). Stone finally gets to really belt one out near the finale.

Gosling plays the piano – really plays it – magnificently. Liz Kinnon is credited as Gosling’s piano teacher/coach – and she must have done a helluva job.

All of this comes from writer-director Damien Chazelle, a 31-year-old guy from Rhode Island who most recently made Whiplash. Chazelle has served notice that he’s a remarkable talent.

Chazelle’s use of vivid colors is at the core of La La Land’s hyper-stylized look. Right in the opening scene, notice the colors of cars in the opening traffic jam and then the colors of clothes on the motorists that burst into a production number. Carried throughout the movie, Chazelle’s use of the color palette made me think of the films of Pedro Almodovar. The production design is by David Wasco, who has worked on six Quentin Tarantino films and movies ranging from Rampart to Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s one of the best-looking movies in years.

As befits its title, La La Land is a love letter to Los Angeles. We see locals doing the tourist thing, which I think is very cool, as the stars take in the Watts Towers and the Angels Flight Railway. In a joint homage to LA and to the movies, our lovers watch Rebel Without a Cause at the Rialto and then sneak in the Griffith Observatory after dark themselves.

La La Land’s epilogue is as wistful and emotionally powerful as the storied snowy one in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. This fantasy montage is the emotional climax of La La Land and perhaps its cinematic highlight.

It’s worth noting that golden age of movie musicals was when the Greatest Generation enjoyed them as a diversion from the Depression and world war. We’re well past the apex of movie musicals, but, every so often, a musical arrives at a moment when we are ready to embrace one (Grease, Fame, Flash Dance, Chicago). Now – after the election campaign of 2016 and as the new administration prepares to take over the government – is such a moment.

La La Land is a profound love story, exquisitely told with music, dance and superb acting. It’s a landmark in cinema and one of my Best Movies of 2016.

OJ: MADE IN AMERICA: finally, the sensational story stripped of the sideshow

December 21, 2016 by movie gourmet

OJ: Made in America has been showing up on lots of critic’s year-end lists. I hadn’t thought of putting it on my Best Movies of 2016 because it’s an eight-hour ESPN documentary series, I hadn’t hadn’t thought of treating it as a movie, but I will now because it’s good enough to merit it.

I remember the OJ saga with distaste because it became a sideshow – the Bronco ride, the Trial of the Century, the bloody glove (“if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”), Kato Kaelin, Judge Lance Ito and the seemingly unfathomable verdict. The genius of director Ezra Edelman is that OJ: Made in America rights a media wrong by keeping a laser focus on the crime itself and setting out the societal factors that explain how this all went so far off track. The sideshow elements are shown to be what they really were – distractions from the greater truth of a domestic violence murder.

OJ: Made in America is an unflinching look at a marriage that disintegrated because of chronic domestic violence, and then evolved into a terrifying stalker situation. We also see glimpses of crime scene photos, grisly but not exploitative, that reinforce the gravity of the crime.

With more clarity than in any other film treatment of this case, we see OJ Simpson’s abandonment and even rejection of the African-American community and of his own racial identity – “I’m not Black, I’m O.J.”. We see OJ creating a new community for himself of wealthy white men and refusing to perform advocacy, fundraising or even lending his name for African-American causes. And so we are left with the sickening irony of OJ becoming a posterchild for black victimhood and a rallying point for resistance to white oppression.

To set the stage for the trial, Edelman shows us the historic racist oppression by the LAPD and the missteps by prosecution that created an environment that the legal team for a celebrity could exploit. Through file footage and talking head witnesses, Edelman takes us through the trial to explain the critical choices that resulted in the verdict. Finally, we see the surveillance video of the bumbling, thuggish crime that OJ is now imprisoned for.

OJ: Made in America benefits from an impressive group of witnesses, including prosecutor Marcia Clark, detective Mark Fuhrman, defense lawyer Barry Scheck, DA Gil Garcetti, former OJ confidantes Ron Shipp and Mike Gilbert and Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister.

ESPN, with its reliably solid 30 for 30 series, is, along with PBS and HBO, one of the most prolific sources of excellent documentaries. With OJ: Made in Americas, ESPN has produced one of the top three or four documentaries of the year.

The trailer is on the film’s homepage. You can watch the entire movie on ESPNWatch and on some other streaming platforms such as iTunes and Hulu.

DVD/Stream of the Week: the best films from earlier in 2016

December 20, 2016 by movie gourmet

For the rest of 2016, I’m recommending the best movies of 2016 that are already available on video:

Hell or High Water is a character-driven crime drama that is atmospheric, gripping, and packed with superb performances. A screenwriting masterpiece by Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water is now available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Eye in the Sky: Thriller meets thinker in this parable from modern drone warfare starring Helen Mirren and with a wonderful final performance from the late Alan Rickman. Now available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and on TV PPV channels.
Chevalier: This Greek comedy from director Athina Rachel Tsangari is one of the funniest movies of the year and was the MUST SEE at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Obviously a keen observer of male behavior, Tsangari delivers a sly and pointed exploration of male competitiveness, with the moments of drollness and absurdity that we expect in the best of contemporary Greek cinema. VERY brief theatrical release in June. Chevalier is now available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Weiner: The year’s best documentary, this is a marvelously entertaining inside chronicle of a campaign, a character study of Anthony Weiner himself and an almost voyeuristic peek into Weiner’s marriage to another political star, Huma Abedin. Weiner is available on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and DirecTV.
Take Me to the River: San Jose native Matt Sobel’s impressive directorial debut is entirely fresh. Not one thing happens in Take Me to the River that you can predict, and it keeps the audience off-balance and completely engaged. You can stream Take Me to the River on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play or rent the DVD from Netflix.
OJ: Made in America: The genius of director Ezra Edelman is that OJ: Made in America rights a media wrong by keeping a laser focus on the crime itself and setting out the societal factors that explain how this all went so far off track. The sideshow elements are shown to be what they really were – distractions from the greater truth of a domestic violence murder. You can watch the entire movie on ESPNWatch and on some other streaming platforms such as iTunes and Hulu.
Green Room: Another bloody thriller from director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin) proves again that he’s the rising master of the genre movie. Very intense and very violent. Available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI: an icon’s life and times

December 19, 2016 by movie gourmet

The documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai profiles the iconic Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. Mifune was director Akira Kurosawa’s essential collaborator and the star of the cinematic masterpieces Rashomon, Seven Samuari and Yojimbo. In those films, along with The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, Sanjuro and Red Beard, Kurosawa and Mifune re-invented and elevated the samurai genre.

The title “Rashomon” has become a noun in every language for the telling and retelling of the same story from different points of view. Seven Samurai was remade as The Magnificent Seven and Yojimbo as A Fist Full of Dollars. (Kurosawa and Mifune also made some brilliant Japanese film noir – The Lower Depths, High and Low, The Bad Sleep Well, Drunken Angel, Stray Dog – that are NOT discussed in Mifune: The Last Samurai.)

What Mifune brought these films was an irreplaceable vitality. One of the great prototypes for “strong and silent” screen actors, his physicality made his characters powerful, even forces of nature.

Director Steven Okazaki wisely makes Mifune: The Last Samurai a “Life and Times” with a survey of Japanese cinema history with importance of period swordfighting movies (called chanbara after the sound of swords). Besides tracing Mifune’s own personal history (he was born and raised in Chine, which I certainly didn’t know), Okazaki explores wartime and postwar Japan society.

Okazaki also brings us witnesses of Mifune’s life, including his son, Kurosawa’s son and many Mifune son and costars. There’s even a sword fight choreographer who played over 100 movie characters killed by Mifune. The talking heads are rounded out with Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

There are plenty of cool insights like how the dangerous death scene in Throne of Blood (where Mifune is shot by hundreds of arrows) was filmed on the cheap with college student archers – and uninsured!

Despite their long partnership and historic successes, Mifune and Kurosawa never made another movie together after Red Beard in 1965, although the two lived another 32 years. That is addressed, but not answered in Mifune: The Last Samurai; initially, I found that unsatisfying, but now I find it even more interesting that their sons and closest confidantes don’t know the reason.

I recommend Mifune: The Last Samurai for those who are interested in Mifune, Kurosawa or cinema generally.

THE EAGLE HUNTRESS: girl power in traditional Mongolia

December 18, 2016 by movie gourmet

The documentary The Eagle Huntress is a Feel Good movie for the whole family, blending the genres of girl power, sports competition and cultural tourism. A 13-year-old girl in traditional (read “sexist”) Mongolian culture embraces hunting with an eagle. (It’s very funny when bitter old guys make excuses for losing a competition to a girl.) It’s also, at its heart, a heart-warming dad-daughter movie, as the girl’s father supports and encourages her at every moment.

Now, to eagle hunting. Instead of walking off with a rifle over shoulder, one rides off with an EAGLE on your right forearm, heading miles into impossibly barren mountains where the temperature can get to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. When it’s not winter, you can’t see anything growing on the terrain. When it is winter, the horses almost skate on the treacherous ice. When one spots a fox out in the open, one takes the hood off the eagle’s head so the eagle can soar high in the air before diving down to the fox. The eagle and fox, whose bodies are about the same size, fight it out, and the fox, a predator itself, has a chance. Very Discovery Channel.

Eagles are big, although their legs look surprisingly skinny when dangling in flight. I’ve seen Bald Eagles in Alaska, where they will routinely snatch and haul off a 20-pound salmon from the river. And I’ve seen Golden Eagles just south of Silicon Valley. I can’t imagine having one sit on my forearm all day – I haven’t done enough curls in my whole life to hoist that weight.

The Mongolian culture and terrain and the eagle hunting in The Eagle Huntress are all pretty impressive and easy to watch.

JACKIE: dreary and somnolent

December 17, 2016December 17, 2016 by movie gourmet

If you put a Chanel suit and pillbox hat on Natalie Portman and direct her to speak breathily, you’ve got Jackie Kennedy, which is noteworthy, but not enough reason to see the dreary Jackie. Portman superbly paints the portrait intended by director Pablo Larrain (No), but that vision is unconvincing and not at all compelling.

Larrain’s thesis is that Jackie moved from shocking grief to a fierce determination to enhance her husband’s legacy in the three days after the assassination, intentionally creating the brand of “Camelot”. He interweaves three stories: the assassination and funeral, Jackie’s later Hyannis Port interview with journalist Theodore H. White and a re-enactment of the First Lady’s televised White House tour.

Despite a remarkable impersonation by Portman, none of this really works. Jackie ranges from dreary to gloomy, and in case we forget, we’re prodded by an intrusive score of sad, really sad discordant music. One can imagine several cellists committing suicide after performing this score.

The real Jackie was bred to be a docent, and her confident White House tour was a television triumph. Yet Jackie’s Jackie acts like she needed one more Xanax to make it through without a breakdown. I didn’t believe Jackie’s bitter cat-and-mouse with the journalist, either.

Portman is exceptional at playing the on-top-of-the-world celebrity First Lady, the stunned and shattered victim and the laser-focused widow. John Hurt is excellent as a consoling priest. Greta Gerwig plays Jackie’s confidante Nancy Tuckerman, and manages to avoid blame for ruining a movie by herself for the first time. This is not the actors’ fault – it’s Larrain’s.

I’ll describe a movie with the word “somnolent” for the first time on this blog because I actually did drift off to sleep twice. It would have been just once, but The Wife prodded me awake both times.

[SPOILER ALERT: Bad history in historical movies enrages me, and there are two examples that appear in the last ten minutes of Jackie. First, as Jackie is preparing to move out of the White House, we see Ladybird Johnson actually fingering the fabric for new curtains, which CERTAINLY did not happen for a variety of reasons, chief among them being that Ladybird was too decent. Second, we see a flashback of JFK spinning Jackie around a White House dance floor like a polka king; of course, JFK’s chronic back condition did not allow him to move like that.]